Natural Flood Management (NFM) has as Duncan Huggett outlines has become very fashionable, but it is neither new or, as a top level scientific review highlighted recently, a ‘silver bullet’. There are still many questions to answer in relation to its appropriate application, not least in terms of location of schemes in the catchment. With more announcements on funding in the last week let’s hope that some of the questions arising from its application can be answered
Environment Secretary announces new £1 million natural flood management competition, part of the government’s drive to reduce flooding by using a range of innovative techniques. A new ground-breaking competition will allow flood defence projects around the country to apply for a share of £1 million to help protect even more homes and businesses, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom announced today. This government funded competition is the first of its kind and will be open to innovative projects that plan to use landscape features such as ponds, banks, meanders, channels, and trees to store, drain or slow flood water. Natural flood management already forms an important part of the government’s flood strategy and funding these new projects builds on £14m already committed to similar schemes across the country. Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “I am delighted to offer more support for local communities looking to employ natural flood management measures to better protect their homes and businesses. We now carefully look at flood risk across an entire catchment area from a river’s source to the sea – to make sure we have in place the best tailored mix of natural as well as concrete, engineered defences to better protect communities.” Click here to read more
Farming UK April ‘Groups of farmers and organisations in the north of England will benefit from funding to develop natural flood management projects. The focus of this round of the Facilitation Fund is on developing a new approach to natural flood management, to help communities hit by the winter storms of 2015 and early 2016. Organisations such as the National Trust, Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Rivers Trust are joining forces with farmers. They will plant trees, create water meadows and restore rivers to their natural meanders within river catchments in Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Northumberland, County Durham and Yorkshire. In the 2 years since the scheme began 61 groups with 1218 land managers have been supported, covering more than 273,000 hectares of land.
Farming Minister George Eustice said: “We are committed to helping farmers better protect their land, and surrounding communities, from flooding. “We’re already investing £15 million in natural flood management schemes across the country, making sure we protect homes and businesses as well as protecting our precious wildlife. “This exciting scheme is a win-win and will see us build-up flood resilience while at the same time achieving some real benefits for our rich natural habitats including our ancient woodlands, grasslands and moorlands.” This is the latest in a series of natural flood management projects. It builds on £15m already committed to similar schemes across the country.
Chief Executive of Natural England James Cross said: “The Facilitation Fund is enabling farmers to use natural flood management techniques, such as slowing the flow through river restoration and tree planting, which not only help to cope with the extreme climatic events that the environment is throwing at us but also benefit nature. Click here to read more
Working with nature to reduce flood risk
Duncan Huggett, EA Blog ‘Hardly a day seems to go by when natural flood management is not in the news. Since the December 2015 floods, there has considerable political and public support for natural flood management. Actually, natural flood management – and the Environment Agency’s involvement – has been around for years. There are many great examples of where natural flood management measures are integral to how we manage flood risk. For example, the Beam Washlands help protect over 570 homes and businesses in Dagenham. This award-winning park is able to safely store 450,000 m3 of water – the equivalent of 180 Olympic swimming pools. Another benefit was the creation and future protection of habitat for wildlife. To read more click here.
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